Before the Xi Jinping rule, China's army was seen as ill-equipped and ineffective. For years, Beijing's army was disparaged as 'the world's largest military museum'. In the past, Chinese armed forces were kitted out with ageing soviet-derived weaponry. China was a predominantly infantry force with uninspiring record in foreign campaigns. The insipid PLA participation in the Korean war cost almost 2,00,000 Chinese lives. A 1979 invasion of Vietnam cost tens of thousands more - mostly airbrushed by officials.
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